Sunday Stamps: Roosters or Chickens

The year 2017 according to the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Rooster. This stamp was released by the Japan Post on 1 November 2016. The central design is a Kurashiki Hariko rooster. Kurashiki Hariko is a papier mache, traditional craft from Okayama Prefecture. It is special for being all parts of the papier mache are handmade by craftsmen. There is a shorter version of this stamp, which can be found here.

To view other stamps featuring roosters and chickens, check out the page See it on a Postcard.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 27: Philippines

For this month of March is pretty much theme inclusive. However, the objective is to give a focus for a specific country of your origin, previous destination, and dream destinations. Given the possibility that there's a wish to split the postcards from your own country into two weekends' postings, this is possible for the weekend of March 4 and 11.

As some of you may know, I visited my home country last weekend -- Philippines: 

My hometown is in the turtle-shaped island, south of the mainland Luzon. If you look closely, you will see marked on the island of Mindoro is a coastal town of Puerto Galera. I spent the weekend there with my family hoping to enjoy the sea, the sun, and the beach. I was looking forward into visiting nearby islets for snorkeling as the area is known to be among the best coral snorkeling sites in the country. Alas! The weather was uncooperative.

I really longed for a similar experience from Feb 2013 in another island, Palawan. It is an island that resembles the shape of a closed umbrella, southwest of Mindoro.

It's a great destination for island-hopping ...

... and I really missed a good ride with the waves on a small boat (banca) like this:

I'm very curious on what postcards each of the participants for our Postcards for the Weekend linky party are sharing this weekend. Let's please take a moment to appreciate one another's effort to pick and share postcards by leaving even just a short comment when we view the pages of each of the participants. 

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Northern Hemisphere

I've read in one website that 90% of the Earth's population are in the northern hemisphere. It's logical as it is because of the land mass concentration.

For the northern hemisphere theme for Sunday Stamps this week, here are stamps from China -- the most populous country on Earth. The stamp design on the left is from the Huangmei Opera set of 3. The two other designs and the description of the series can be found here. On the right is of the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. This design is called Devotion to Service. Information about the rest of the sheet can be found here. For the prime minister, here.

Postcards for the weekend 26: Serenity

This post is quite early for this upcoming weekend. I am anticipating intermittent internet access. I will be in my home island for a delayed birthday celebration with my family.

FR-764739, Sent from Rennes, France
Traveled 11,043 km in 13 days

For the serenity theme this weekend, I've chosen first this card -- a woman with a tranquil countenance in her senior years,

RU-5218172, Sent from St. Petersburg, Russia
Traveled 8,974 km in 20 days

finding serenity in solitude; the liberty to be still, enjoy a good calming cup of tea, meditate, or slowly read a good book with lighted scented candles nearby, and

Sent by myself from Santorini, Greece

in renewing faith in each deep breath we take while witnessing the beauty of creation.

Have a great weekend everyone and I sincerely would like to express my gratitude to all bloggers and friends who have been very creative with the postcards shared for our themes this month of February.

Cheers,

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Eastern Hemisphere

Received in three different occasions, I'm happy to discover that I have all four stamps from the miniature sheet called Art Post 20--15. It was released by the Finland Posti on 11 September 2015. The four designs are by the creative agency Vanhatapio and Saksi. The theme for the designs are "cinematic and literary references that allow the imagination to create the set and setting for events".

Click on See it on a Postcard to discover what other participants shared for the theme, eastern hemisphere.

~maria